


standing on my own two feet

by minigigi



Series: what's in a name [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, BAMF Peter Parker, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Gen, Orphan Peter Parker, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Smart Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28811280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minigigi/pseuds/minigigi
Summary: Twenty years later, Tony tries to make amends for leaving behind his son, Peter. But is it too late? He hasn't been kicked out, so that's a start.Or the inevitable long-drawn conclusion of what happens when a billionaire public figure tries to make amends with his too-nice son for kicking him to the curb. Boundaries are made but crossed. Communication ebbs and flows. Luckily Peter has his two best friends to help him navigate this weird situation. Because deep down, both Peter and Tony want to be a family. But sometimes, life gets in the way.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: what's in a name [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112267
Comments: 54
Kudos: 159





	1. trying without really trying

**Author's Note:**

> I strongly, strongly recommend reading the first part of this series. I really hadn't meant to come back to this topic whatsoever. Like, even starting and stopping the first scene or two, it was a necessary hurdle. But, I kept coming back with every comment and every time I replied, I would skim through what I wrote. Like, I felt better throwing up whatever I had in the first part. The meeting. The tears, etc. But I really don't think there can be a real relationship between the pair unless there's actual work put into it. Obviously, moreso Tony than Peter. I honestly don't know where this is going. I have an idea in my head, but I'm going with how the characters in my head act. Like, my mind's natural conclusion of the situation. 
> 
> TW: for slightly underage drinking and cursing.
> 
> I don't quite know if I want there to be just Michelle Jones / Peter Parker or like, a poly situation with the three of them, Ned, Michelle, and Peter. Right now, I have them as super comfortable with each other. Peter needs love and support.

For all the buildup of the past couple of days or so since the realization of Peter’s parentage, or rather, the fulfillment of such a realization, Tony might’ve built up their first real conversation to an impossible degree. Images of working shoulder-to-shoulder with his genius son still at the forefront of his mind. But… he mentally chides himself for taking heed of what they _just_ talked about. About conditional relationships and strictly leaving the relationship to be fully helmed by Peter.

Peter, however, seems to be waiting for him to make conversation. Either the Stark genes of charismatic and conversationalist skipped a generation, or he’s doing this on purpose to test Tony. Or, you know, maybe he’s as lost as Tony is.

They already provided their order to the waiter. It’s unlikely Tony will have another diversion to make up for their lapse – could it really be called lapse if it never started? – in conversation.

“So, you graduated on top of your class?” Tony mentally scolds himself for basically stating a fact. Peter seems to pick up on this lousy attempt and merely nods.

The student leans back a little in his seat and sighs silently.

“What’s next on your plans now that you have your bachelor’s degree?”

“Well, like the Dean told you when we met, I’m working on my Ph.D.”

“Right. Of course.” _Great_. “And how did you enjoy MIT for your undergrad?”

“It was good enough for me to come back, sir.” Peter manages a half-smile in his attempt to snark with the billionaire.

“Oh, yeah, I remember that.” A faint memory of a member of his Board of Directors talking about improv classes and how it’s basically a culmination of _yes, and_. Desperate to keep the conversation going, Tony adds, “and what really made your decision to come back?”

The college student sits up straight and perks up a bit, “oh, definitely the faculty. My advisor – Dr. Banner, and his work on irradiated chemical compounds first jumpstarted my thesis proposal –”

“Bruce?”

“—uh, yeah, Dr. Bruce Banner. You know him?”

“Well, I know everyone at MIT, but yeah, we run in the same circles, while a Harvard man himself, we partnered on a new method of A.I. creation and integration system, which nearly got us in trouble with the government. Now that’s a story. We—”

Peter visibly shrinks on himself, which Tony fails to notice, and continues his story.

“Really, I’m surprised you haven’t heard from either the news or Brucie himself. Well, Stark Industries did pay a hefty sum for various firms to make sure we left with our hands clean. But, those nights in the lab with the big man himself probably changed the nanotechnology field itself. That’s where much of the project roster for the 2020s got its start from, but don’t tell Pepper I told you. She’s all about confidentiality and proprietary—”

Peter politely nods with a forced smile and makes a murmur of agreement every so often. By the time Tony notices, the waiter comes by with their meals. A personal pizza for Peter and a chef’s special oven-roasted chicken for Tony, as well as their drinks. Plain water.

Tony mentally gives himself a point for not drinking but also subtracts another five points for basically cutting off Peter. Now that he thinks about it, he wonders if the last part might’ve been a bit more inappropriate for the conversation. Peter’s grateful look at the waiter’s interruption seems to point to a resounding _yes_. Oops.

Peter tears a piece of his pizza and immediately folds it in half -- like a sandwich? -- and takes a bite. Tony follows his lead and starts eating his meal. However, by the time he takes his first bite, Peter already finishes swallowing his first chunk of pizza and tries to continue the conversation.

“So, confidential things aside, how well did you work with my advisor, Dr. Banner?”

Tony struggles to swallow as fast and nearly chokes. He gulps down some water in a way he hopes doesn’t highlight his near-death by chicken. “Oh, Bruce and I, our caffeine addictions during that time period could be a case study for coffee and international tea blends alike. Coffee for yours truly, but Bruce had such an… eye for tea blends. But still, we stayed awake for days at a time, and sometimes, I swear, we just spoke and wrote gibberish. Thank goodness for speech-to-text technology and artificial intelligence to make some of our babbling make some sort of sense.”

“How long did you work together?”

“This was probably a month on the project before I went back to personally fine-tune some things for our Stark Industries Board of Directors and make it worthwhile and all that fiscally responsible stuff.” This reminded Tony of Peter’s long-term plans, or lack thereof, or rather how the future will place Peter in the professional world of Stark Industries.

“So,” Tony starts, in a tone more cautious, and seemingly startles Peter. “What are your big plans with your Ph.D.?”

“Like my thesis?”

“No, like, once it’s done.”

“Oh, I guess keep researching potential applications of my findings, maybe work as a professor.”

“At MIT?”

“If they want me to, yes.”

“You don’t want to work anywhere else?”

Peter wipes the grease off his hands with a paper napkin and starts drinking some water.

“Depending on the results, I can probably write a book?”

Both men are awkwardly talking around the bigger question. Tony thinks back on Pepper’s part in all of this and tries to think before he talks for once.

“Well…” Tony starts. “While I can’t promise you a place in Stark Industries per se and so soon, without conferring our PR department and all that, but I have a lot of connections in other companies that, a single text from me, would line up many job opportunities for you.”

Peter furrows his eyebrows. “I… I’m fine, sir. Really. I’m happy with my current career plans. I appreciate the offer, though.”

“Okay.”

The conversation never really starts back up afterward.

* * *

In his small apartment later in the day, Peter finds himself sitting upside down on his couch with his friend—romantic interest? Friends with benefits? It’s complicated. Michelle Jones. She isn’t sitting like a heathen, thank you very much, Parker! She is balancing her laptop on her lap, feet propped on the cheap Ikea coffee table ahead of them both, and her typing breaks the silence.

“It was just so fucking awkward, MJ,” Peter repeats himself.

“Uh-huh.”

“Like, I just need some guidelines here, MJ, some of that patented wisdom.” Peter animatedly waves his arms but accidentally knocks his wrist on the table. “ _Fuck_ ,” he whispers to himself and cradles the injured body part.

Michelle loudly sighs and puts away her laptop and mirrors Peter’s position, and leans back with her head hanging off the couch and legs on the back of it.

She kisses the injured wrist and hums to herself before saying, “so, what’s next?”

Peter scrunches his face in deep thought. “Theoretically, nothing. This could just be a one-and-done meeting, and I never have to see him again.”

“But do you want that to happen?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Peter whines.

“It matters to me, doofus. Just humor me. What do you want to happen?”

“I dunno.”

She levels a glare in his direction.

“I D K.” He grins, all teeth showing.

“Ew. No actual text talking, please. Level with me, best case scenario?”

He lets his hands drag across the gross carpeted floor. “I guess…” He sighs. “Time traveling is out of the question?”

“For now, yes, stop stalling.”

“I don’t know the answer, M.”

“Start verbally mind mapping with me. Would you see Stark again in the future?”

“I guess. Yeah. But like, not if we have the same type of interaction as today.”

“Okay, a less awkward stilted relationship.” Peter can almost hear her mentally writing down notes of this conversation.

She continues, “and would this entail invitations to your birthday parties or something?”

“I guess.”

“So, his presence in your milestones in life. How about informal dinners?”

“If it wasn’t awkward, sure.”

“And how was it awkward?”

“Like, the whole lack of firm boundary lines. Like, other than me asking for him to not invade my privacy.”

“Elaborate.”

“I don’t like your psychoanalysis, ma’am.” Peter starts to reach a pillow between their legs, but Michelle moves quicker and grabs and throws it at his face. It quietly bounces off his face – and he screws his face in an affronted look that makes her laugh – before landing out of either their hands’ reach.

“Doofus, if you can’t have this conversation with me, you won’t have it with anyone else. God knows Ned will not be able to handle this.”

“Augh. Ned. I still have to facetime him later.”

“Okay. Stop stalling. Boundaries -- explain.”

Peter starts digging his nails into the well-worn grooves of his coffee table. “I think I need a new coffee table.”

“What’s wrong with the one you have now?”

“Ugh. I felt… embarrassed that Tony saw my apartment the way that it was. Like, I lived in a slum?”

“Good starting point—”

“—Wait, no!—”

“The differences in socio-economic class makes you uncomfortable. Is there, like, concerns about not matching his expectations? His standards?”

Peter melodramatically screams into the inside of his right elbow. Michelle gives him a moment to collect himself.

“I guess.”

“Did he make you feel uncomfortable at any point?”

“Not like that? But like…”

Michelle forces herself to stay silent.

“Okay. Like, he goes, what’s my career plans? Then dismisses me being a professor and goes, no SI work for you, but maybe somewhere else?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then, he goes, tells me about my own advisor like he isn’t on my speed dial for three a.m. science rants.”

“Happened once, and that was during finals. Go on, though.”

“And, then tells me, like, I can’t tell you uh, proprietary and confidential information, and Pepper—his wife—wouldn’t like him telling me about it, so he talked around it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And he didn’t even really let me speak? Or like, showed an interest in anything I had to say?”

Michelle hums to let Peter know she was still listening, as Peter goes silent. He pouts for a second but then gave her a sad smile, “well, at least I got that awkward father-son interaction out of the way. Bucket list completed.”

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to ever do it again.”

“Yeah.”

* * *

It turns out, Peter ends up seeing Tony much sooner than he initially thought.

Peter finds himself in the MIT Barker Library, using up probably a dozen trees to print out some of his referencing material the following week. The second article is nearly done printing, with another five left to go. Peter knows he could have just read it on his computer, but he finds it easier to highlight and handwrite margin notes. Plus, having a physical copy of his materials for his next advisor meeting should make it easier. He knows Dr. Banner would appreciate the effort as well.

However, it is at this point his phone buzzes. A quick glance tells him it’s Tony.

Peter glances around and decides to chance a phone conversation. He still takes the time to move to the wall, just a few more feet away from the library's several students.

“Hello?”

“Hey, uh, Pete. It’s Tony.”

“Hi, yeah, I got that, what’s up, Tony?”

“So, Pete,” Tony stammers a bit on his end. This only makes Peter feel slightly better that he’s not the only one at a loss here. “There’s going to be a conference next month here in New York that I think it would be a great opportunity for you.”

“Oh, uh, th-thank you, Tony, but I think I’d rather stick around here, but I appreciate the heads up.”

“Kid, it’s completely free, so money isn’t a problem. In fact, I can even take care of the plane ticket for your way here. Well, not me, personally. My people will talk to your people type of deal.”

“Tony, sir, again, I appreciate the offer, but I would just rather stick around and get a head start on my literature review but again, thank you.”

“It won’t be an issue, no skin off my back and all that, and this will be a great opportunity to network and rub elbows with your peers. In fact, the post-seminar networking mixer is perfectly timed with my last meeting of the day, so I can even run through some introductions.”

Peter checks the progress of his printing and sees it’s about done anyway, and decides that if they keep dancing around the real conversation about expectations, he’ll be stuck having this conversation over and over again.

“Look, Tony, I don’t see how that’s a good idea. I’m happy with where I’m at and where I’m going, career trajectory-wise included. I appreciate you keeping an eye out for me, but, uh, I don’t think this would be healthy for us so close to our first meeting. Like… how will you introduce me to these would-be colleagues?”

“Ah.”

Peter wants to say more, but his prints are ready, and now that his chatterbox of a… -- father? Sperm donor? – finally stopped talking, now is as good as any to cut the conversation.

“Look, I’m at the library right now. Thanks again for looking out for me, really, but I’m fine. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, we can grab coffee or something, but until then, bye.”

“Wai—” Peter hangs up before Tony can finish.

The graduate student feels like he was irrefutably rude, but, as MJ reminds him, maintaining boundaries is not a matter of being rude but self-respect. Peter covers his face with his hands and tries to breathe evenly. The entire conversation was stressful and turned what was going to be a nice, mundane day of annotations into more unwanted introspection.

After a set of even breathing, Peter grabs his still-warm pages off the industry-sized printer and stuffs it in his backpack, and hugs it close to his chest for a second before leaving.

* * *

Michelle and Ned come by his apartment close to midnight with a case of white claws and a generic-looking hard liquor bottle. Ned greets Peter with a great big bear hug, lifting him off the floor by an inch, at which point Michelle drops their prize on the coffee table with a thud. Peter internally winces but goes to greet her with a kiss to her forehead.

“Why the alcohol? I was going to turn in early today.”

“It’s midnight, Peter,” Ned chastises before he starts tearing apart the cardboard case and arranges the cans of white claws nicely.

“Yeah, if you were really going to turn in early, you wouldn’t be up to answer the door.”

“Well, I’m sure you would’ve found your way to lock-pick your way into my apartment, you crooks,” Peter smiles to let them know he’s joking with them.

“Consider this a mandatory therapy session, dork.”

“Yeah, dude, we’re here for you. If it means getting drunk together, then that’s a bonus!”

“Aw, thanks, guys. No therapy session, but yes to drinking.”

The trio sits around the coffee table, and each starts drinking a can.

Ned nudges Peter a little with his knee, “so, why did you really say no to an all-expense-paid vacation?”

Michelle snorts but otherwise ignores the two as she gets up to grab some glasses and raid the fridge.

“Ugh, it wasn’t a vacation, Ned. Just some stupid conference.”

“Yeah, that. But still a free trip to New York. I know you miss it, dude.”

“Well, yeah, that, but,” Peter blanches, “am I supposed to walk around and introduce myself as the bastard child of _the_ Tony Stark?”

“If it helps, yes!” Michelle calls from the kitchenette area.

Peter sticks a tongue out in her general direction and then turns to Ned. “There’s too many… unknown factors. If maybe, I had an idea of what to expect? How to explain why a guy who owns half the world’s wealth is spending so much time with an orphan from Queens…”

Michelle gracefully balances and sets up three cups, a pack of Oreo cookies, and a liter of Cocoa-Cola on the table, “what did he tell you the excuse was?”

“I don’t think he had an answer.” Peter grabs a handful of Oreos.

“You don’t think, or you didn’t ask,” Michelle pointedly asks.

“I did ask!” Peter says around a mouthful of cookies before he continues, “he just kinda went, _ah,_ and didn’t respond.” Peter shrugs and goes to drink more of his can.

“Maybe he wanted to introduce himself as your dad but got nervous?” Ned chances.

“If this was a Cinderella story, sure, Ned, but realistically, and most likely, no. Peter, what do _you_ want him to say?”

Again, Peter takes this moment to stuff his face with cookies as an excuse to not answer. Michelle rolls her eyes and pours him a generous amount of vodka into a cup and a smidge of soda. “Drink, doofus, and then answer.”

Peter listens and shudders.

“Well?”

“Nasty.”

“Answer, or else Ned here won’t order pizza.”

“Wait, who—”

“Augh, maybe I do want that?”

Michelle pours herself only a cup of soda and waits until Peter finishes his thought, kicking Ned when he’s about to complain again.

“Like, okay,” Peter leans back and stares at the popcorn ceiling. “If we’re talking best-case scenario, wave a wand, Cinderella-story theme continued here...” Peter trails off.

Michelle and Ned patiently snack on more cookies.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if I was introduced as his son. Isn’t that pathetic?”

“Of course not—”

“No, doofus—”

“Like,” Peter takes another sip, “I know he doesn’t give a shit about me, I know that, but like, would it be so bad if he did?”

“Well, he did invite you—”

“No, Ned, like, I wanted to be his son, not his little achievement, trophy, whatever. Like…”

“Like, an extension of himself to boost his own self-image?”

“Yes, MJ, thank you, that.”

“Aren’t kids just extensions of their parents, though?”

“Not enough parental experience to answer that,” Peter snorts.

Michelle twists her lips into a thoughtful pout before starting, “remember, Ned, when Midtown hired that photographer that basically followed the both of us to highlight how diverse the school was?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But at the same time, they didn’t do anything to stop Flash bullying you?”

“Yeah…”

“Tony, like Midtown, might just want the brownie points of having Peter – top of his class, a grad student at his alma mater? Without any of the work, like submitting a letter of recommendation on his behalf.”

Ned sticks to his can and sips softly.

Silence takes over for an uncomfortable moment before Peter pulls out his phone. “Regular two large pizzas, one cheese, one meat lover’s?”

“You buying, Peter?”

“Yeah, Pete, I was only joking, I could pay.” 

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Think about it as like, a shitty father’s fee, sponsored by Tony,” Peter says, not yet looking up from his phone.

“Was that the foregone conclusion already?” Ned still hasn’t quite left Team Dad.

Michelle rolls her eyes. “We got all night, and theoretically, the rest of our lives to make that decision, Nedward.” Ned pouts at the nickname.

“Pizza will be here in thirty, guys,” Peter announces.

“Great, now drink up.” Michelle leans closer and nudges towards his half-full cup.

 _Might as well_ , Peter thinks to himself.

* * *

At that same moment, in New York, Tony is also drinking. But from his aged whiskey bottle poured into an expensive glass. Tony likes to think it came with his office, a thing that is meant to be a permanent feature of the building.

Like himself, playing that absent workaholic father trope. Midnight, and instead of being home, he’s here.

There’s no real purpose to his presence at the office. He could easily lie to his assistants or other employees, presumably still in the office right now. Still, he knows Pepper would know the truth if she saw him right now. Lucky for him, she’s in the California office with Morgan. An excuse to let Tony simmer in his thoughts while letting the girls relax on an actual _nice_ beach. Healthy distance and all that.

Tony passes his hand in front of his table to start up F.R.I.D.A.Y.

“Boss?”

“From your data, what would you say Pepper would like me to do about Peter?”

“I have no data to indicate one way or another, sir.”

“Figures,” Tony says to himself. It’s one thing to know a possible way to navigate the entire situation, and agree or disagree, but to have not even a single hint… Tiring.

“Are there other people in my situation, F.R.I.?”

“Specifically, what situation, sir.”

“Specifically, being a deadbeat father, and coming back after two whole decades and start a relationship.”

“Initial research says no, but there’s a significant number of Reddit threads asking for advice regarding the topic ‘deadbeat’ father.”

“Fucking Reddit. Wow. I was hoping for a Bill Gates. I’ll even take a mayor.”

“A real estate billionaire was sued by his illegitimate children for two hundred million dollars in back child support payments, which was rejected by the court.”

“Okay, there you go, any other information on their relationship?”

“None to speak of from sparse social media posts and further court filings.”

Tony groans. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., I need help to start being a father to a kid, not to be more of an asshole.”

“The first step to being a father is to spend time with your child.”

“And if the child doesn’t want that?”

“Many articles highlight parent alienation. Would this help?”

“Depends. What is that?”

“What one parent disparages the other parent systematically until the child internalizes that feeling and –”

“Okay, no, sounds like for divorcees. Okay. Okay.”

“If I may suggest, sir, maybe talking to your support system and get advice.”

“You are literally my support system.”

“While Misses Stark and Mini-Boss are out of state, Mister Hogan and Mister Rhodes are nearby, and after checking their schedules, Rhodes is free tomorrow for brunch, and Hogan is free after he finishes his tasks for the day.”

“What will that accomplish, F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Pretty sure Pepper won’t want me to tell more people than I have to.”

“If there’s a chance Peter is to be involved, either with Stark Industries or with your family, they might prefer to know sooner than later.”

“I guess…”

“Brunch reservations sent and confirmed with Norma’s Café.”

“Sure, why not.”

“Rhodes will meet you there at eleven in the morning.”

Tony finishes his glass of whiskey before putting away everything. He picks up his jacket from behind his chair and starts to head out before he asks one more thing.

“Am I good father, F.R.I.?”

“Variety magazine called you Father of the Year when young Miss Morgan was two years old.”

“But like, to Peter?”

“While you share fifty percent of his genes, you don’t meet the parameters of being his father, boss.”


	2. a tenuous place of stability

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important conversations are had.

Tony easily sees Rhodey and Happy already seated inside the restaurant and waves off the hostess, who tried to assign him a new table. Tony sees she’s about to say something, but she immediately hangs back once she notices his face.

 _Good_ , he thinks to himself and immediately sits on the free chair between his two best – and only -- friends. He catches them both mid-bite, so in lieu of a greeting, he grabs a forkful of hashbrowns off Happy’s place.

“So,” Happy swallows his mouthful quickly, “why’d you ask us—"

“Well, really, his A.I. asked us,” Rhodey says quietly.

“—to ‘brunch’?”

Tony grabs a napkin to wipe his face, despite there being nothing to wipe and tries his best to find the words.

“So, you know how, about, say, twenty years ago, we found out there was a woman pregnant with my kid?”

“Yeah, I thought Obadiah was going to have a heart attack.” Happy recalls.

“Well, uh, I bumped into the kid the other day.”

“Bumped into, how?” Happy asked.

Rhodey makes a big show of sighing and leans back to nurse his beer.

“Well, sort of what I said, I bumped into him at that MIT graduation event Pepper forced me to attend.”

“Okay, so how’d it go,” Happy asked. Rhodey remains silent.

“Uh, terrible. We both basically ran away. But, Happy, this kid is a genius, top of his graduating class at MIT, working on his dissertation with Banner, on material I can barely understand. Of course, this is—”

“Why did you call us here, Tones?” Rhodey cuts him off impatiently.

“Pete… Peter, the kid, is willing to, uh, have a relationship with me, despite uh, everything. I already know I’ve fucked up—”

“Go back a bit, so what, how’d it go from both of you running away to reconnecting with your _son_ ,” Rhodey emphasizes the last word, which makes Tony flinch.

“Look, I know how I fucked up here—”

“Tell me how you fucked up, Tony.”

“I wasn’t there for him—”

“And now?”

“Now I can be there for him?” Despite this being his sincere answer, Tony can’t help but become unsure as he responds as if hearing it out loud makes him realize just how… out of touch that is.

“How are you going to be there for him now after twenty years?”

“Look, I know we had that fight, but why can’t you just be happy—”

“Yeah, we argued because I thought you were better than that, and you said, after all, was said and done, you were going to leave this poor kid alone.”

“Look, why isn’t this a good thing? He gets to have me for a dad now—”

“Did he say he wanted you back as a father figure after all these years, or did you strong-arm him into saying that?”

Happy’s head for a minute kept swiveling back and forth between the two men before giving up and focus on eating his meal.

Tony opens his mouth to speak but stops and thinks.

“He was… vague.”

“Vague how?”

“Uh, that yes, he would’ve liked it, but he doesn’t want to jump straight into a father-son type of deal, but to take it one step at a time. Work our way up to it, so to speak.”

“That’s not vague at all,” Rhodey says to himself but then addresses Tony once more. “So, what now? You wanted our help to speed-run your entire redemption arc with a kid you tossed aside twenty years ago” It was a question but sounded more of a statement.

Now that Tony thought about it, it wasn’t too far off base, but “—look, I’m trying here, Rhodey, the kid is willing to try and so am I, and I don’t want to fuck this up more than I already did. Okay, I know I probably traumatized the poor kid when I signed away my parental rights and all that, but I want to do right by him now.”

“And this has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a bonafide genius, and now you can get all the credit of being a good father without putting in any of the work.”

Tony nearly growls, “I’m putting in the work now.”

“And the past two decades, the diaper changes, the first heartbreak, the teaching him to shave or ride a bike or going to any of his games?”

While the conversation is turning heated, Tony notes nobody around them has turned to look at the trio. Happy is now halfway done with his meal, while Rhodey’s nearly full plate is almost certainly cold. That second to make that observation has the double effect of allowing Tony to mull over Rhodey’s words.

“So, what, you’d rather me walk away?”

“You already did that.”

“No, like, stop trying to do right by Peter and walk away right now?”

“You know that’s not what I meant—”

“Then tell me what you mean, because from here, it sounds like you—”

“I need you to understand something, Tony.”

Rhodey stops purposefully and waits until Tony takes several breaths.

“Your son, Peter, must be feeling hurt and confused and sad and, above all else, hopeful. If you fuck this up, that’s it. No more redo’s. You’re in a position, that, yeah, you gave him up and rejected him as a baby because you were scared or whatever, and maybe Peter will buy that—”

“You know that situation—”

Rhodey holds up his hand, palm facing Tony, and Tony shuts up. “If your heart isn’t in the right place right now, if you aren’t one-hundred percent in giving your all, then there’s no hope for whatever it is you hope to get out of this.”

“I want to be there for him.” Tony holds Rhodey’s gaze.

“And you’re all in?”

“I’m all in.”

Happy decides now to pipe in, “what does Pepper think about all this?”

Tony grunts and then sighs. “She’s… not thrilled.”

Rhodey purses his lips but doesn’t say anything.

Tony continues. “She’s cautious since she doesn’t know Pete and is worried he’s going to go to press or ask for more money, things like that.”

“And Morgan?” Happy asks.

“Well, Morgan overheard our conversation, so she’s thrilled she suddenly has an older brother.”

“And what does Peter think about all this?” This time Rhodey asks.

“He’s... been quiet on that front. We just bumped into each other this past weekend and only went to grab lunch once. So, I haven’t had a chance for any real, uh, emotional conversation yet.”

The three men are quiet, and Rhodey finally starts to pick at his cold food.

“So, what are you planning on doing now?” Happy asks.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know. I’m at a loss. Right now, it’s awkward and mostly small talk.”

“So, you need like, a buffer, or like, do an activity with him, so you guys at least have that to talk about instead of whatever you guys aren’t ready to talk about.”

“Oh!” Tony exclaims – and mentally slaps himself in the face. _Why didn’t I think about that_? “What kind of activity should I plan? He already said no to catch in the park.”

Rhodey chokes on whatever he’s eating but quickly re-composes himself.

“Well, what does he like? What is he like, actually?”

“He’s smart.”

“Mhmm.”

“He’s going back to MIT for a dissertation.”

“Okay.”

“Uh, all his guardians are dead?”

This time, Rhodey chokes for real and coughs out something into his napkin. “What do you mean, all his guardians are dead? What happened to Mary?”

“Uh, dead.”

“No, I got that. Elaborate.”

“Mary and Richard died in an airplane accident like, fifteen years ago. Peter’s uncle died about... five years ago. And his aunt died maybe three years ago.”

“And what happened to him after that?”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. says he filed to emancipate himself, even used his aunt’s life insurance to sponsor a small scholarship program, and went straight to MIT.”

“Fuck.”

“Right?”

“Fuck! I mean, Tony, where were you when that happened? Shouldn’t the state have gone to you for any of those.. traumatic events?”

“Well, I signed away my parental rights, and I guess his aunt was there to make sure she got first dibs because I don’t remember any attorneys talking to me.”

“And F.R.I.D.A.Y. didn’t have any alarms or anything in place for something like that happening? Didn’t he need, like, money to take care of himself after being an orphan for the third time?”

“Second time… but uh, this was pre-F.R.I.D.A.Y., but I definitely fucked up on that end. I’ll fix it.”

“Do that. Okay.” Rhodey rests his head on his hand and just stares out to the side, very visibly trying to internalize this influx of information.

Happy neatly stacks his now-clean plates and utensils and starts, “I say, you should go hiking.”

Tony blanches. “Hiking? Does it look like I’ve ever gone hiking?”

“Always a good time to start.”

“No, that’s a great idea, Happy. Look, Tones, Peter isn’t a little kid you can just take to an arcade or whatever. No easy little father-son outings like to Chuck-e Cheese. You missed out on those years, so now you get stuck with age-appropriate fun. That means no bars.”

“Well, he’s not even twenty-one yet, so there’s that.”

“Oh! You can buy him his first beer!” Happy suggests.

Rhodey considers this for a moment but shakes his head no. “I think that’s a bit more emotionally charged than playing catch in the park, so I doubt Peter will be ready for that.”

Tony nods but mentally notes that as a future suggestion.

“And then what?”

“And, ask about his life and go from there. Does he like movies? What does he do for fun? Who are his friends? What does he wanna do in his life?”

“Oh, uh, he wants to be a professor.”

“Okay, that’s a great start. Ask about his field of study – what does he like about it? How did he choose it? What’s hard about it? What’s easy about it for him? And, most importantly, listen. Let him talk as much as he needs.”

Tony nods but remembers with a pang that he definitely did not listen to the last bit. He’ll do better. He has to.

“Maybe even have a schedule of visiting him. Does he live in Cambridge?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so weekly might not work for you guys, with you being out in Manhattan, but, once or twice a month, if you’re able to.”

“No, I can do weekly.”

Rhodey shrugs, “Alright, weekly. But you’re trying to be a place of stability for Peter, which he probably needs right now, you know, with the whole two-times orphan-ed.”

Tony makes a face.

“You guys can even make it a thing of hitting all the good food spots out in Cambridge,” Happy suggests. “Show him all your old spots from when you to school.”

“And as you guys get closer, bring him out here. I’d like to meet my new nephew after all. But don’t rush this,” Rhodey adds.

“Of course, got it, yeah, definitely.” Tony nods animatedly.

Either way, Tony has got his work cut out for himself.

* * *

“Father’s Day is coming up,” Michelle says, breaking the comfortable silence.

Peter only hums to show that he heard her.

“You got the usual plans, or did something spring up with the sperm donor?”

Peter laughs and stops working on his laptop to turn to face Michelle fully. “Uh, no, we’re definitely not there yet.”

Michelle raises a single eyebrow, which baits Peter to elaborate. “Like, not only have we not talked since the whole lunch thing, which was awk, negative ten out of ten, which you know, but I’m sure he’d actually want to spend it with his kid.”

“So, when are we leaving for New York?”

“You want to go with me?”

“Of course.”

“What about your course?”

She gives a one-shoulder shrug but responds, “I’ll take the Greyhound on Sunday, but a weekend break isn’t going to put a dent in my course progress.”

“Plus, you’re ahead in your coursework,” Peter says with a smile.

Michelle responds, “plus, I’m ahead in my coursework,” with a rare MJ-trademarked grin. Peter leans over and gives her a quick peck.

“In that case, I’ll book two bus tickets for Thursday night.”

“Sounds like a date.”

The pair lapsed once more into a comfortable silence, broken only by the momentary noise of Michelle flipping a page in her book or Peter clicking on his mousepad.

It hasn’t even passed ten minutes before Michelle speaks again.

“Ten bucks says sperm donor will somehow know you’re in the city and ask to hang out again.”

“MJ, how would he even know?”

“Big Brother, and all that,” she says with a wave.

“I told him my whole boundaries thing, so like, no invasive shit should be happening.”

“Yeah, but you honestly, genuinely believe he’ll honor that?”

“If he’s serious about, I dunno, having a relationship with me, yeah. And if he doesn’t, then all the reason to go no-contact, _again_ , guilt-free.”

“Guilt-free is the actual takeaway there, huh?”

“Yep.” Peter smiles and knocks his shoulder to hers.

Michelle grabs a faded receipt from the coffee table and sticks it on the page she’s on before dramatically flopping on her back and resting her head on Peter’s lap, feigning sleep.

“He hasn’t called me again since then,” Peter says.

“I figured,” Michelle says but keeps her eyes closed.

“Figured how?”

“You would’ve brought it up immediately.”

“True… You know, he might’ve already forgotten about me. Busy with Stark Industries and his actual family and all that.”

Michelle cracks one eye open to look up at Peter, who is seemingly focused on his work. So, she hums to show she heard him.

“Like, maybe I scared him off. Awkward kid and all that. No dramatic, uh, connection like in Tangled.”

“Where the biological mother knew immediately, the now-brunette girl was her originally-blonde child after two decades, and everyone hugged?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I think we’re a bit beyond Disney movies.”

“Yeah…”

“You want him to reach out to you.”

Peter makes one last click before pushing the laptop away.

“I want to be wanted, I guess.”

Michelle keeps still, mindful not to accidentally interrupt Peter’s thought process.

“Like, yes, rejected as a baby, but then being rejected as an adult might mean that maybe it was my fault?”

“But you don’t want to be part of his family…”

“It still hurts… like, I don’t think I’ll ever be over that. But, if I did the rejecting? I can like…”

Michelle allows a long moment to pass before she guesses what Peter might mean.

“…change the narrative?”

“I guess.”

“But you’re too nice to reject him outright.”

“I can be mean.”

“No, you can’t.”

Peter tugs a stray curl, “teach me to be mean.”

The meaningful conversation seems to have gone sidetracked, so Michelle sits up straight and adjusts to face Peter.

“Serious and brutal honesty time, Peter. Yes, theoretically, last week could be a one-and-done family meet-up, and you’ll never have to face Tony ever again. But, there’s also a chance he’ll pop up.”

“Because of Dr. Banner?”

“And because of your field of study.”

Peter groans. “Want me to make you some coffee if we’re having a _serious_ conversation?”

“No, because we both know you’re trying to stop this conversation. But you really need to know where you’re at, and yes, you’ve placed boundaries, which is great, super proud of you, but you need to know before you’re on DaillyMail’s front page.”

Peter grimaces. “Why would I be on their site?”

“Billionaire’s bastard child, _no offense,_ found after graduating top of his class at his father’s alma mater.”

“Not very newsworthy.”

Michelle clears her throat, “Peter, I know you’re more realistic than this. There’ll be rumors of you chasing after the money, or how horrible Tony is, what does this mean for Morgan, or—”

“Okay!” Peter interrupts, “I got it. I should just nip it in the bud and go no contact for everyone’s benefit.”

“No. If you want a family with this guy—”

“—I haven’t decided!—”

“You need to know what’s going to happen so you don’t get blindsided and reflexively shut him out when you didn’t mean to.”

“I wouldn’t—”

“Remember when May died?”

Peter looks away.

“Ned and I didn’t find out until a week after, and that’s because you completely shut down. You didn’t talk to us or really talk at all. We had to break into your apartment to figure what happened.”

Peter reaches for his laptop and tries to start working on editing his photos before Michelle takes it away from him.

“I’m not saying this to be mean. You need to talk about this. Know where you stand, so when shit gets thrown at you, you have an idea of what to do.”

“Just tell me what to do. I’m perfectly fine not doing anything. Nothing’s happening. I can just get a head start on my literature review and be able to present my project proposal way ahead of schedule.”

“Peter.”

“Wha~at?” he whines.

She gives him a look, a nearly mad but a definitely annoyed MJ look. Peter gulps and considers maybe some introspection might not be so bad.

“If nothing changes, I don’t have to do anything. If he messages me to hang out, I’m down to hang out. If he calls to tell me to make changes to my life, I’m out. I don’t think I’ll exactly be in their family Christmas photos, so I’m not thinking that far ahead.”

“Mhmm…”

“Tangled-inspired family reunion is no longer an option. So, I doubt there’ll ever be a meaningful relationship where I’m like, his _son_. I’m pretty sure I’m just... I don’t know, a shiny new plaything, maybe. Maybe it’ll hurt less if I did nip it in the bud…”

“But…?”

“I don’t know. Like, graduation was hard without May. Like, really hard. High school graduation was unbearable, but I thought me graduating from college would be easier. But, when I saw everyone take photos with their parents, it just hurt. And maybe, if I have, I don’t know, like, some type of relationship with Mister Stark, I can pretend I have a family again…”

Michelle quickly wraps Peter into a hug, and he presses his forehead on her shoulder.

“That sounds kind of pathetic, huh, MJ?”

“Not at all.”

“Would May be mad, do you think?”

“Never.”

“She hated Mister Stark.”

“But she’s also all about forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness, yeah, but like, not forgetting.”

“And she’d want you to be happy. If that means some tenuous relationship with the sperm donor, sure, but if it also means burn all bridges and rain hellfire, I’m sure she’d be fine with that too.”

Peter laughs and wipes his suddenly teary eyes on her shoulder.

“She was always on Team Peter.”

“Yeah, she was,” he says with a wet laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note, so here's a bit of the timeline I'm running with.
> 
> MIT Graduation Date in 2020 is June 4
> 
> First day of MIT Summer Session was the Monday after that.
> 
> Father’s Day in the US, at least, is June 20, 2021.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr @minigigi.


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